These are images from the upcoming Guess Kids advertising campaign featuring Dannielynn Birkhead, who is the daughter of the late Anna Nicole Smith and (one-time) photographer Larry Birkhead. If I’m not mistaken, Larry and Anna met for the first time at the Kentucky Derby in 2004, and a few years later, Larry fathered a child with Anna. Shady, sketchy hanger-on Howard K. Stern initially claimed paternity and Larry had to go to court and take a paternity test to prove he was the father of little Dannielynn.

Certainly, this was an inauspicious beginning for a young girl to face, but it really has seemed like Larry has stepped up to the plate and performed his duties as a loving father to the child. Until now, in fact, things have seemed pretty normal for Dannielynn, but now I’m shaking my head a little bit at Larry’s decision to let his 6-year-old daughter star in a modelling campaign (while wearing a denim miniskirt, no less). It seems slightly inappropriate, no? Larry insists that these ads are merely a one-off “homage” to Anna Nicole’s very own Guess ads. Here are the details:

Anna Nicole Smith’s 6-year-old daughter has modeling in her genes. The sandy-haired spawn will follow in her mom’s footsteps and be a prominent face for a Guess clothing campaign launching in January, the denim-driven company said Monday.

Dad Larry Birkhead brushed off criticism Dannielynn is too young for the spotlight and said her participation in a recent Malibu photo shoot for the children’s version of the famous fashion line was a one-time homage to Smith.

“It’s really a tribute to her mom more than anything. She’s not going to be a model,” dad Larry Birkhead said. “Her mom’s history with Guess was very positive. The ads were iconic and timeless.” He said his precious progeny even had a school assignment where she talked about the experience and how it connected to her mom.

“She asked me if she was going to be on the shopping bags like her mom. She was really excited about it,” Birkhead said. “She had great time on the shoot. It was really just a day at the beach, playing in the sand.” He said all proceeds from the gig will be set aside for Dannielynn. Her plan is to become a doctor, a birthday cake baker or the owner of an ice cream truck, he said with a laugh.

“People have said she’s already stepping into her mom’s shoes, and that’s very broad. I want to be clear this was just a tribute. She’s still a kid at heart, and she’s going to stay that way as long as possible,” he stressed.

The photos of Dannielynn and fellow model Peyton Edmonds, the daughter of singer Babyface, were directed by Guess Creative Director Paul Marciano. “Dannielynn has the same playful spirit that her mother had on a set,” Marciano said in a statement. “She is a second-generation Guess girl, which makes this campaign a first for us.”

The 2013 ad campaign will appear in international fashion magazines, on buses and on billboards beginning early next year, the company said.

Anna Nicole Smith died of a drug overdose in 2007 after a long battle with addiction and a downward spiral partially portrayed on the E! reality series “The Anna Nicole Show.” Birkhead, 39, quickly filed an emergency order to gain custody of Dannielynn and has been raising her in Los Angeles.

He said Marciano is “like family,” and the company’s consistent use of Anna Nicole’s image generates income for her estate. “I talk to the company quite frequently” he said, declining to say who first proposed the idea of Dannielynn modeling. “I told them we had to be sure this was a positive experience. They were so great. We all made sure she was having fun.”

These ads seem to be far too much far too soon (just like Kaia Gerber’s age 11 Versace campaign after which even Cindy Crawford decided to pull the plug). It’s great that Larry has encouraged his daughter to look up to her mother (to an extent, no doubt), but this child is merely of kindergarten age. Why so soon? Dannilynn will undoubtedly still be gorgeous when she grows up, and there’s no huge hurry for her to get there. Let a kid be a kid.

Here’s some of Anna Nicole’s Guess ads from the 1990s. Once upon a time (before all the drugs), she was a bombshell.

Comments are Closed

she’s a pretty little girl, having known Anna’s background and turnout you would think he could keep his daughter as far away from modeling/public eye as possible.. wait, till she’s old enough to make her own decisions..

I was thinking she looks like the spitting image of her dad. I was also thinking her outfit looks fairly typical for a girl her age. I do hope this is just a “one off” thing, though, and not the beginning of a child modeling/acting career.

I should have said ‘skirt’ instead of outfits, because what she’s wearing on top isn’t bad. I wish the skirt was longer though. But like what other posters said, perhaps she was wearing shorts underneath or the skirt had built-in shorts.

Agreed. She is not dressed inappropriately at all, at least in these photos. Now if she was one of those pageant children, I’d be worried, but really, she looks like a normal (albeit, beautiful) child, in a normal everyday outfit. If we didn’t know who she was, we’d think nothing of the photos.

No, it isn’t lame. I wish they did too since I am beyond tired of holding my breath any time some girl bends over.Not to mention the mad dash of slapping my hand over my 9 yr old’s eyes. *Sigh* Modesty was lost around the same time common sense was.

I don’t bother with skirts very often, but yes, I think it’s a great idea. Duchess Kate would have benefited greatly if her yellow dress that she wore in Canada had shorts attached. That wind was fierce!

Who is Danny Birkhead??? The father of the child is Larry Birkhead. He has basically stayed out of the spotlight except for a few choice interviews and now opportunity with Guess. Seems like he’s an amazing single dad, living in Kentucky, not Hollywood.

I was going to say…I’m sure you can say plenty of things about Larry Birkhead but this man has always struck me as a VERY protective, loving, and involved father to this little girl. This is the only reason why I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt here. I’m willing to believe that this was something Dannielynn wanted and he indulged her. My opinion is that she’s too young, but the photos aren’t inappropriate or anything..she’s adorable BTW.

I doubt she will be considered model material until or if she gets surgery on her lazy eye. She’s beautiful just the way she is, but models need to be able to work with the camera and her lazy eye ain’t having it right now.

I think she is the spitting image of her father. Beautiful little girl.

I am guessing that raising this child is rather expensive. And while he is a photographer, I suppose his ability to earn isn’t very high. They have security detail etc. Larry appears to be doing a good job and is very attentive to this little girl, she appears to be a nice sweet innocent thing. Cut the guy a little slack. Only time will tell. As long as he chooses these projects carefully and continues to shelter her, a little modelling shouldn’t destroy her or lead her down the same path as her mother. Her mother and this child so far have had COMPLETELY different childhoods.

I’m not feeling the bad vibes on this. So far, Birkhead appears to have been raising Danielynn as normally as possible. And little girls love this stuff – I would have. Plus it allows her to feel a connection to her late mother. So hopefully it’s a one time or at least only occasional thing. But I agree a child should not be too focused on seeing their face in the media at this age.

She’s so cute and sweet. Makes me wish her mother could see her.
And those ads of Anna’s make me long for the 90s, when models had actual curves!
Anyway I think time will tell if this is the beginning of a career too young, or an innocent one time project. Jury is still out here.

Larry Birkhead started to exploit Dannielynn from the moment he obtained custody in April 2007. “My baby is not for sale”, said Birkhead before he obtained custody…He sold first pictures of his kid to OK mag. for $1.8m. He is constanly on Access Hollywood, ET and other tabloids. He treated Dannielynn as a lucrative commodity for sale. Guess campaign is not a surprise. He exploits motherless child and her tragic mom who ovedosed on drugs just like her son Daniel. His only income is Dannielynn. He has no job since 2007. It’s very sad that a child supports a healthy dad wannabe manager. Dannielynn should have her own identity. She shouldn’t live in the shadow of her infamous mother.

@Happy21: ITA. I am a very active reader of gossip blogs etc (*shame* hahahaa) and I have never seen this girl or her dad on them. Last thing I heard about him and the girl is when he got custody after ANS died. After that, nothing. Or I am reading the wrong blogs/mags xD

That is a very simple and great point! They need six year old kids to model six year old clothes lol. It’s not like she’s modeling a thong that someone made for kids awhile back (forget who it was). I definitely wanted to model and act when I was that young. Not every kid is “forced” into it by money hungry parents.

Agree 100%. Does that mean that all the other child models are all being exploited? So when i go to Zulily.com and see all the outfits and cute little kids modeling, I’m contributing to their destruction? Honestly, people need to relax, if or when we start seeing more photos of this kid and she looks miserable, then criticize.

6 year olds model all the time for kids clothing ads. If Dannielynn wasn’t modeling in this ad, another 6 year old would be. It’s not like it was her or Giselle for this ad.

I don’t know if it’s sweet or just too ironic that she’s modeling for the same brand that her mother did. I’m not superstitious at all, but I would probably steer clear of Guess of all companies if I were her father for that very reason.

Guess broke Anna. She was unknown before then. So Larry of course would feel positive about this company especially if he wanted a lucrative deal. I’m thinking he’s probably waited for her to grow up to do this very thing. I don’t think he’s all bad for having her model a bit; I’ve seen much worse with celeb kids. I’m just a little wary of him – he’s not the sharpest in the crayon box.

Not quite. Anna was the cover model and centerfold in the March 1992 issue of Playboy and was later chosen as 1993 Playmate of the Year. That’s what made her famous. People paid much more attention to Playboy models then compared to now. Because Anna had a voluptuous body like Jayne Mansfield, she next became the model for Guess ads, in which she was styled to resemble Jayne in their 1950s-inspired photos.

I “retired” from modeling at age 6. Granted I wasnt the second coming of Gia, but by age 6 i had done a few local tv commercials, 1 national print ad and a national tv commercial, not bad fir starting at 4. Like the commenter said below of her nephew modeling, its not high pressure its taking pictures of them playing.

call me a prude but in my opinion little girls should not be wearing mini skirts without at least some tights/shorts underneath.
if she bends over to pick something up or to tie her shoes you could probably see her panties. thats not ok on a child imo.
i mean, this looks like a mini adult, not a child.

i dont want to imagine all the pervy pedos checking her out in that sick kind of way :S

Oh c’mon! that is not a “mini skirt”. What are you going to do? Put a little girl in a long, constricting skirt so she can’t run around? My girl is younger than this, but most of her skirts have built-in or matching shorts. Personally, I’m sad that skirt season is over — much easier to put on a kid than pants!

Birkhead’s quote makes me think that if he says the word “mom” enough, then people will be okay with it. The pictures are definitely cute – she’s a beautiful child. But if it is a tribute to her mom, why not wait until she’s a little older? I don’t know what the right answer is.

I dont think Larry has a real job anymore, and that’s why he has to pimp out his daughter. You would think that after all the things that fame did to Anna Nicole, he would want DanniLynn to stay far away…but no apparently.

Kids model clothes every day. Her clothes are age appropriate. I’d dress my girls in that outfit. And I dress them pretty modestly. Most all skirts for girls that age, have built in shorts.
She’s a pretty girl. If she wasn’t ANS’s daughter, I don’t think this would even be an “issue”

At first I thought, “Oh no,” but her dad seems like a grounded guy who doesn’t force her into the spotlight at all. The only time we ever seem to see them in public is when they attend the Kentucky Derby.

Anna Nicole didn’t have much guidance in her life as her parents were messed up (if I recall correctly). Dannielynn seems to have a solid foundation, at least from what I’ve seen and read.

1. She is gorgeous!
2. Letting her model doesn’t mean she is going to necessarily follow her mom’s path. She could be in any profession and become addicted to drugs. It happens.
3. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and doing a good job with his daughter, thus far.

I’ve worked for a cleaning company contracted by Guess – Guess is very slow to pay their accounts for the work that was done in good faith by the company – even though this company rakes in the $$$. I guess Guess wants the work done for free since they are such an ‘iconic’ company and boycott their products.

You’re not weird. I agree with you about Anna Nicole (born Vickie Lynn Hogan). Her face was too broad and she had a huge jaw. Apart from the bolt-ons, she did have a healthy, curvy body at the beginning of her fame and she was styled to look glamorous in Guess ads. That image was negatively offset by her vapid personality and drunken (or drugged-up) ramblings. She came from humble beginnings (nothing wrong with that), but she never evolved beyond her trailer park attitude and “stripper/Playboy model” history.

I also got annoyed by her cheap copying of her idol, Marilyn Monroe, which imitated the sensuality without having any of the sweetness or the talent. Anna and Jayne Mansfield were both sleazy knockoffs.

While I’m at it, this overuse of the word “iconic” has gotten out of hand. Guess ads, while memorable, are not iconic, considering they just ripped off the black and white celebrity photography of the 1950s-60s. There’s no originality when you are duplicating the past. The actual photos from that past are timeless because they are still copied. The copies themselves are disposable.

Even worse, now Guess ads use malnourished stick models to sell retro imagery, which is ridiculous because the female figures idealized during the ’50s-’60s had T&A curves.

I hope her daughter later finds a fulfilling career AWAY from the spotlight.

It looks like they’re trying to make her not look six, which isn’t the same as a kid trying to dress older by wearing their mom’s clothes. Child modeling is fine, (almost did it myself), and it is for a kid’s line, I guess I’m just weirded out by how far their clothes have come. It isn’t sexual, just oddly grown-up.

These are great shots. Age appropriate and adorable. That outfit type is my 7 year old’s favorite and I would encourage her to wear as opposed to some of the alternatives that are out there. He has proven he has his child’s best interests at heart. Everyone stop being so judgmental…

I think Larry is a good father, and I don’t think this modeling is a problem. Seems he wants to protect her but not keep her in a glass bubble.
I really miss Anna Nicole. She had a certain spirit about her. She and Dannielynn’s brother Daniel would both be proud of her. I think that was the saddest thing ever when Anna lost her son. I just hope her daughter will flourish in whatever she does…

I think she looks adorable and age appropriate. My nephew models for Hilfiger kids and they really just run around while the photographer shoots so it is not exactly high pressure. I think it is sweet that she did a shoot for Guess, I think her dad is a good dad, she always looks happy.

i think this is actually a lovely tribute to Anna and it really sounds like Dannielynn wanted to do this. i don’t think we should begrudge Larry Birkhead for indulging his daughters wish, especially when she never got to know her mother in the first place. At first, i didn’t want to like him, but it’s become clear that he really does have her best interests at heart. I’m not willing to think the worst here, unless she continues to model.

I see nothing wrong with this. She is a kid model. Kids model all sorts of stuff and she looks like a kid! Not like they are trying to make her look mature, etc. It is an ad campaign for Guess! kids, it’s not a runway and she is not traveling around the world, being schooled by a tutor on the road, etc.

She is a very pretty girl. Also, the skirt is not short! Back in the 80′s when jean skirts became the big thing I had two that I can think of off the top of my head that were about the same length as this. My mum was conservative and never once told me I couldn’t leave the house wearing them.

I disagree, I don’t think the body ideal has changed really at all. You’re supposed to have the same boobs, butt, blonde hair/blue eyes, just have a much smaller waist and thighs. Nothing changed, just had to be slimmed down

These pics are no different than anything you would see in a JCPenney’s catalog featuring children. They are tasteful and cute. As for this darling little girls father, if he really was out to capitalize on his daughter’s famous genes, I think he would have done it long ago. I think he has done a brilliant job of keeping his daughter at a safe distance from the media, with only only entertaining a story about Anna Nicole and his daughter once in a blue moon.

I am totally against the sexualisation of girls but in these shots I just don’t feel any sleaziness at all. Yes, just a t shirt and skirt at the beach.

Larry has been an exemplary father to his daughter. He does not exploit her at all. I have seen about 6 photos of this beautiful little thing since she was born. Hardly pimping her. She is a lucky little girl.

Claiming that Dannielynn is too young to model is ridiculous. Kids model/act all of the time. For some reason people scream exploitation when it’s a celebrity’s child but couldn’t care less that babies, toddles, etc do this everyday.